“If you have time, and wish to do so, daughter.”

“Yes, sir; I have hardly anything to do till it is time for the drive to Ion.”

“Unless you should find a letter, or more than one, of your own, calling for a reply,” he returned, smiling down into her bright, animated face.

“That is not very likely, considering how few correspondents I have,” she laughed.

They reached the veranda from one direction as the servant entered it from another, and the captain, taking the mail bag from him, walked on into the library, Lucilla following.  He emptied the contents of the bag upon the table, and going rapidly over them, said:  “Several letters for our guests” (laying them aside as he spoke), “one for your mamma; none for any of my children, and only two business letters for me.  Well, daughter,” glancing at the clock on the mantel, “you may sit down to your typewriter and answer these at my dictation; as I see there will be time to do so before the ringing of the breakfast bell.  Ah, good-morning, Keith!” as at that moment that gentleman entered the room.  “Here are letters which I was just about to send up to you.”

“Thank you,” said Keith, taking them from his host’s outstretched hand.  “I am glad to have saved you the trouble.  I hope you and Miss Lucilla are both quite well?” giving her a bow and smile as he spoke.

“Entirely, thank you, and have just come in from our usual early stroll together about the grounds.  I hope you rested well.  Take that easy-chair and don’t let our presence interfere with your enjoyment of your letters.”

Keith declined that invitation, saying he felt a strong inclination for a breath of the sweet morning air before the summons to the breakfast table should come; so would read his letters upon the veranda, and, with them in his hand, passed out of the room.

“I strongly suspect that was from a polite disinclination to hinder us in our work, papa,” remarked Lucilla in a sprightly tone, as her father uncovered the machine and made all things ready for her work.

“Quite likely,” he responded, “for I never met anyone more truly polite and thoughtful for others.  He is a Christian man and acts from Christian principles in all that he does.”

“As his friend, my father, does,” she said with a look of filial reverence up into his face as he stood by her side.

“And as I trust my daughter does and will ever do,” he returned with grave earnestness, then began his dictation.

They made rapid work and had finished and joined Keith upon the veranda before the ringing of the breakfast bell summoned all to their morning meal.

“Rosie has an ideal wedding day, I think,” remarked Violet as she poured the coffee; “that shower in the night having laid the dust in the roads and made the air deliciously cool.”

“Also refreshed vegetation,” added her husband, “so that trees and shrubs and flowers are as fresh and fragrant as possible.”